Cléopâtre (étude)

Alexandre Cabanel's 'Cleopatra' study (1886) belongs to his mature academic practice — a preparatory work for one of the historical-mythological subjects that made him one of the dominant painters at the French Salon. Cabanel was Bouguereau's peer at the apex of French academic painting, his 'Birth of Venus' having been purchased by Napoleon III directly from the 1863 Salon. His Cleopatra study allowed him to investigate the historical female subject that combined his mastery of the nude with Orientalist historical context.

As a study, the Cleopatra work preserves Cabanel's preliminary investigation of the subject — the figure's pose, the quality of the light, the relationship between the historical figure and her Egyptian setting explored with the freedom that study format allows before the final composition's demanding precision. His academic technique is evident even in the study: secure drawing and confident tonal modeling are present from the earliest stages.